Historic Sites Consortium ofQueen Anne's
County

Other Historic Sites & Landmarks

Kirwan House – Route 552 - Chester, Kent Island - The Kirwan House, built in 1879 was the home of former Maryland State Senator
James E. Kirwan (1900-1908). The attached store, built in 1889, became the hub of
the Chester/Dominion communities. Artifacts from 1890s to 1920s are on displayed in
the recreated store.

Sudlersville Memorial Library – 1946 - After the Civil War the majority of the Trustees left Dudley's Chapel and came into Sudlersville to begin a new church, thus Wesley Chapel Methodist Episcopal Church was established in 1868. A new larger church built on this same site was later renamed Asbury Methodist Episcopal Church South (1878). After the Peninsula Conference closed all Methodist South churches in 1942., the town received approval to open The Sudlersville Memorial Library in 1946.

Kent Fort Manor Marker – Kent Island - the first
English settlement in Maryland was predated only by colonies at Jamestown
and Plymouth Rock. In August
1631, William Claiborne landed here and established an outpost for
trading. His founding is
acknowledged now only by an historic marker, approximately 8.5 miles south
along Route 8.

Kent Narrows – For generations, a bustling
center of commercial seafood processing, with as many as twelve packing
houses operating at once, and hundreds of watermen bringing the catch to
the docks. Look for a new series of wayside exhibits coming Fall
2004.

Kent Manor Inn – Stevensville. This large country inn sits in the middle of a 226 acre tract once
called Smithfield. The original wing of the inn (on the left) was constructed by Sarah Smyth and
her husband, Dr. Samuel Thompson, a prominent local physician. A marriage contract, executed between
Sarah and Samuel Thompson, allowed Sarah to retain control of her assets after their 1811 marriage.
In 1843 Sarah gave the house and 309 acres to her son, who, just
prior to the Civil War, added the large 13-room center section of the inn.

Stevensville Bank Building – The first banking enterprise
on the island came in 1903, with the formation of The Stevensville Bank
of Queen Anne’s County. The bank building was constructed sometime between 1903 and 1907.
It is the oldest bank building on Kent Island and one of the
earliest surviving in the county. The
classical architectural details on the façade of this restored stucco
building, combined with its pressed tin ceiling and intact furnishings and
vault, helped place it on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bryan United Methodist Church – Grasonville, MD. Originally
known as Bryan’s Chapel and dating from c. 1800, the oldest extent
church in the area whose congregation still worships at its original
site. The original
congregation was primarily made up of black watermen and indentured
servants.

My Lord’s Gift – Although few outward signs of
historical significance remain, travelers on Routes 18, 301 and 50 cross
a 17th century tract of land named My Lord’s Gift. A marker tells of this 1000 acre tract that was given to Henry
DeCoursey by Charles Calvert, third Lord Baltimore, in 1658. As reward for DeCoursey’s loyalty in England, Calvert gave
him as much land shown on a map as he could cover with his thumb.

Bowlingly – Queenstown, MD. This impressive National Register Georgian house was
constructed in 1733. When British troops descended upon the town during the
War of 1812,
the house was badly damaged. In 1897, the Queen Anne’s County Railroad Company acquired the property
and transformed the house and grounds into a hotel and amusement park.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church – Queenstown, MD. This
“very neat and commodious frame edifice” was constructed in
1840-1841 and consecrated by Bishop William R. Whittingham in April
1842. The church was erected on land donated by the owners of
nearby Bowlingly plantation. The
building is a marvelous example of the small country churches built in
villages of the mid-19th century.

Bloomingdale – The land on which the National Register site Bloomingdale stands
was originally patented in 1665 as Mount Mill. The Federal-style brick mansion, erected in 1792, is one of the
finest in the county.

Wye Island – Two of Maryland’s leading Revolutionaries acquired the island in
the 1700s. William Paca,
signer of the Declaration of Independence, held the eastern half and
built Wye Hall, a large plantation house which burned in 1879. Paca is said to be buried on the mainland nearby. John Beale Bordley, a jurist, owned the western half and
developed an enormous plantation. Attacked by Tories during the Revolution, the island was
defended by a gunboat or barge, the Experiment. The island is now home to the Wye Island Natural Resources
Management Area.

Wye Oak – When Europeans first explored
the upper regions of the Chesapeake Bay, this majestic oak already was
fully mature. The Wye Oak was believed to date to the sixteenth century, making it over 400 years
old. In 1909, the tree was recorded as the largest white oak specimen in
the eastern United States. When it was felled by a storm in the summer
of 2002, the tree had grown to 32 feet in circumference with a crown
spread of an impressive 119 feet. The
Wye Oak stood in a 29 acre park owned by the State of Maryland.

Wye School – The small brick building
situated next to where the Wye Oak stood dates to circa 1800. This one-room structure, with Flemish bond brickwork and a
gable fireplace, is believed to be an early school building. However, it is possible that the small yet
refined building was used as a dwelling or a plantation office.

Old Wye Church – originally built in 1717,
substantially restored in the 1940s.

Salem Elementary School – Centreville, MD. Early school for blacks, c. 1900.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church – Centreville. Beginning in
1672, three successive church buildings served Saint Paul’s Parish at a
location west of today’s town. Construction
of the current Saint Paul’s began in 1834. The church was enlarged in 1855 and again in 1892-95.
The parish hall was added in 1908-9. Note the church’s remarkable stained glass and windows, and
the herb garden on the grounds, planted and maintained by the Queen
Anne’s County Garden Club.

The Captains’ Houses – Centreville, MD. This
closely set row of four small houses built along Corsica Creek was
constructed by Captain John H. Ozmon. These dwellings were used by the captains and crew members of
Ozmon’s schooners that sailed the Chesapeake. Architecturally, they are probably unique.

Middleton House – Centreville, MD. Built
in 1890, and moved to its present location in the 1930’s, the 19th
century hunting lodge home of Samuel and Mary Middleton, founders of the
original Gunston School in 1911, continues today to represent both the
physical and symbolic soul of Gunston Day School.

Charles Wesley Methodist Church – Centreville, MD. The
place of worship for one of the oldest African-American congregations in
the county, this late Victorian Gothic-style frame structure has the date
1909 on the cornerstone, and a stone from the original church shows 1873.
The church was the social center of the black community with
socials, ribbon sales, promenades, strawberry festivals and box and shoe
socials.

Crumpton – the town grew up in the 19th
century around McCallister’s Ferry, a rope raft that operated between
the north and south banks of the Chester River.

Jimmy Foxx Memorial Statue – In 1997, the Sudlersville
Community Betterment Club erected this life size bronze statue of Baseball
Hall of Fame member Jimmy Foxx. Foxx was born in Sudlersville in 1907 and got
his start playing ball in Easton. The statue, which joined a stone memorial dedicated in 1987, serves
not only as a remembrance to one of baseball’s all-time great players,
but also is a symbol of the love for the game on the Eastern Shore.

St. Andrew's Chapel - Sudlersville - St. Andrew’s Chapel is a charming wooden Gothic structure built on a design by Richard Upjohn, the nation’s outstanding 19th century church architect. This style is sometimes referred to as carpenter gothic. The Chapel was consecrated in 1880